Chapter 9
Vanishing Point
© Eldric
Probability Three: Darkstar Vessel Vengeance
Hal Jordan felt the beginnings of a headache, almost a reminder of the pressure he had felt when he was bonded to the Parallax malignancy. He wondered if it was because he could feel the mystic yellow Starheart calling to him, calling to the part of him that had made the bond with Parallax so easy.
But that would always be his burden to shoulder, and he knew it. He was free of the Parallax entity, and that had been a gift: one he had not earned, but one that he cherished, and one he was determined to pay forward.
He gazed around the Darkstar cargo bay that had been made available for their use as a meeting hall. The Probability One ship that brought him here had better conference facilities, but did not have the information they needed. And they desperately needed to know the real situation.
Jennifer Gand, the Sentinel, had made the difficult decision to send a single scout ship in to investigate. Hal Jordan, Tony Stark, Kara Zor-El, and Rogue Zorel had joined the crew of that ship to add extra offensive and defensive capability.
It also gave Kara and Rogue something to do; Kent Nelson, the Alterverse Shazam Wizard had snatched Carrie and Karen Zorel-Dox and their Sorority associates to run a separate, extremely dangerous mission. Kara understood the necessity of working with the man, but she absolutely distrusted him. She felt that Diana, the Alterverse Wonder Woman, deserved much better. She wondered if Diana felt the same fury she did about the callous manner Kent commandeered the Sorority.
The scout ship Captain proved extremely experienced in stealth operations, a good choice for the mission. Through a combination of careful piloting, cloaking devices, they had maneuvered through the Orion Arm of Milky Way Galaxy without detection.
Hal spotted Darkstar vessels and suggested one to follow. Any random choice would have worked, but when Hal used his ring to tap into the vessels’ communications systems and heard the voice of Arisia, he decided not to pass up the opportunity. In some universes, she was known as Arisia Fentura, but here as Commander Arisia Rrab. In either case, the Arisia he had known and the Multiverse Arisias he had only recently met were smart, brutally competent, and women of honor. His instincts exclaimed loudly that this woman had earned the respect of her fellows…she would be no different.
They had trailed the little vessel, trying to make sense of its comms conversations, until the vessel picked up a passenger who then traveled with it. The young woman, who flew without any form of life support, wore a variant costume of the House of El, black and white with the classic red lettering on the symbol.
The symbol alone was enough to peak their interest. Watching the young woman operating under a red sun, thrashing a squadron of Manhunters to buy time for the Darkstar vessel to escape a trap, confirmed their decision.
Of course, even Hal Jordan had to admit surprise when the young woman, who called herself the Midnight Angel, addressed him by name.
Better yet, she nailed why they were there and revealed that she and Arisia could begin to explain the situation on the ground while the real experts were in transit. Those experts would arrive within the next several hours.
RISING STARR
“The probability device was only used once on the satellite probabilities,” the Midnight Angel explained.
“Satellite probabilities?” Rogue reacted with suspicion to the young woman’s admission. “Young lady, what the Hell are you talking about? MVP-3 is the evil clone probability.”
“Really?” Arisia Rrab retorted. To the surprise of no one, Arisia had proven to be the Commander of her ship, Darkstar Vessel Alpha 17. “From what I understand, this universe started out with a lot of things that dropped out of your universes.”
“Phantom Zone criminals, Sinestro Corps, and more,” the Angel added. “The first iteration of this universe had it all. The yellow Starheart was a result of the original firing of the probability gun. A lot of the other things that seem strange to you are because our timelines have been rebooted repeatedly.”
“All right,” Tony Stark interrupted, “I think the best thing to do is baseline our problem set. We represent the two other probabilities, plus a few friends. As I suspect you know, Hal Jordan was killed in all three probabilities. Strange that you would know who he is, if he never existed in the current timeline.”
“Strange that Phantom Zoners with your power levels didn’t take over the universe,” Rogue sniffed as she gazed at the Midnight Angel.
“They didn’t have her power levels,” Arisia explained, “for which the rest of the universe is most grateful. She’s a clone whose DNA came from elsewhere.”
Tony pulled out a device, stepping towards the Angel. She consented to his examination, allowing him to scan her without resistance.
“Biology might not be my specialty, but I don’t see any markers of a typical clone,” Tony gazed at her. “You appear to be a healthy twenty one year old Kryptonian; I don’t see any signs of the accelerated growth and sudden slow to that aging you would often see in a clone.” When Kara showed an interest in the device he was using, he smiled. “A little something Reed Richards and Stephanie Strange cooked up. I wanted to call it a tricorder and have them add whirring noises…but…” He trailed off and shrugged.
“Accelerated aging?” Alexis reacted, horrified, bringing them back on topic. “How terrible! They do that to people?”
“Yes,” Tony explained, “most vat-generated clones are forced to maturity through an accelerated process. Then once they reach maturity, their aging is artificially slowed. False memories are implanted, so that they can function. Unfortunately, over time those memories begin to deteriorate and they become unpredictable. It’s worse in Kryptonians and their kin than in other species.”
“Wow,” the Angel’s features displayed shock. “That makes me appreciate my folks even more. I may have tailored genetics, but I’m really twenty one years old. Most of my life was spent isolated on Paradise Island, which kept my sister and me away from the rest of the world.”
“Who are your parents?” Tony inquired.
“Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves,” Alexis explained. “I go by Alexis Graves. My older sister goes by Lexie Luthor.”
“I know of several different Lex Luthors,” Tony offered. “All of them are geniuses, but not all of them are of the heroic mind-set.”
“From what I’ve been told,” Arisia intercepted the question, “this Lex Luthor was a super-villain, but changed his tune after the attack of the Phantom Zone criminals. His most recent behavior has not been villainous…perhaps fatherhood has forced him to reconsider his ways.”
As she spoke, Arisia considered the path the conversation had taken, realizing that they needed to refocus back towards the crisis.
“We’re going down a rabbit hole,” she interrupted. “Alexis, tell them what you know about the timeline reboots and the imp…Mr. Mixedupalus…or whatever.”
“Mxyzptlk?” Kara interpreted the word Arisia was trying to pronounce correctly and turned narrowed eyes on Alexis. “What does that…creature…have to do with this?”
“Quite a lot, actually.” Alexis explained, suppressing a chuckle, “Apparently, by his own admission, he was pretty much responsible for this whole mess.
“I have Kara’s memories of the imp,” Rogue said, closing her eyes. Unlike the memories of all the other individuals she had absorbed in the past, Kara’s memories were not instantly available to her. She actually had to think of what she wanted to recall and consciously access those memories. “Very powerful and very unpredictable. But usually everything vanished when he was re-exiled to his home probability. He loved to play tricks on Superman. I wonder if he wanted to be Superman’s lover.”
Alexis nodded slowly at Rogue’s words.
“This reality…this timeline is the result of an ongoing war between Brainiac and the imp, because of everything that had gone wrong in the original probability, that we shorthand as MVP-Prime,” Alexis explained. “Mxyzptlk brought the probability device into MVP-Prime to play tricks on Superman. When it was eventually triggered by Jax-Ur, the activation resulted in the formation of three new probabilities, none of which were quite the original. MVP-1 and MVP-2 were incomplete, with slightly altered timelines. MVP-3 had an altered Starheart, the Phantom Zone criminals, and a yellow mystic Starheart which was no longer tied to the Multiverse Starheart, but was tied to the Sinestro Corps. That version of the criminals had power levels like mine…many Green Lanterns died stopping them.”
“So…” Hal questioned, “Manhunters? How did the Phantom Zone criminals get out? And where’s the gun?”
“This is what the imp admitted,” Alexis responded, “Mxyzptlk loved Superman…but Superman was completely heterosexual. So, Mxyzptlk conspired to get his attention, sure that Kal-El would love him, if only…”
“That makes a scary kind of sense,” Rogue agreed, “in a stalking sort of way.”
“Lanie Kent happened when the imp turned both Kal and Lois into kangaroos and nature took its course,” Alexis explained. “When the spell was broken, Lanie remained viable…the imp’s magic has its own peculiar limits.”
“Which provides one more reason why she didn’t kill Lois during pregnancy,” Kara surmised.”
“Yes,” Alexis agreed. “That would be about the only thing the imp did that resulted in a happy ending, and then only on MVP-2, because of its altered timeline.”
“Mxyzptlk caused all of this?” Tony gazed up from his scanner, watching Alexis nod.
“Myxy showed up at the MVP-Prime Fortress with the probability device,” Alexis explained, “ready to cause all kinds of havoc. He intended to cause problems, split the probability, and watch different versions of Superman figure out what happened…two pranks for the cost of one…”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Kara, retorted, “there are so many ways that could go wrong.”
“And they did,” Alexis explained. “The imp showed up at the Fortress and found Kal-El and Lois in the same room as the Phantom Zone projector. As a prank, he held down the release button to let the Zoners out. The rest is history, I suppose. Though, we have noticed that all three of our probabilities have a slightly different version of that particular piece of history. The version that is canon here is that the Zoners slaughtered Kal, Lois, and Lar Gand and spread out to conquer Earth. The Imp was horrified with what he had unleashed. He said his name backwards, hoping that everything would be undone when he was banished. But he hadn’t used magic, so nothing changed.”
“Oh my,” Rogue’s eyes widened with horror, “all of this…a practical joke gone wrong…”
Alexis nodded.
“And you’re right.” Kara nodded slowly. “I have noticed that both Probabilities One and Two have slightly different versions of that event, but your version seems to vary even more. For one thing, neither of the histories of Probabilities One or Two mention the Imp. In both cases, the Probability Device is assumed to have been one of the strange alien artifacts Kal kept in his fortress for safe-keeping. And in both cases, Kal fought the Zoners for some time.”
“But poor Lar Gand was killed early on, though,” Rogue added. “The Zoners took him from the Zone and let the lead Poisoning kill him, dropping his body off at the entrance of the Fortress for Kal to find. Eventually, Kal was defeated and Zod stormed the Fortress. Yet, as powerful as the Zoners were, they were challenged to defeat the rest of Earth’s heroes, led by Lex Luthor! In desperation, Zod ordered Jax-Ur to trigger the Probability Device, thinking it was some type of super weapon!”
“What happened…” Rogue continued, “let me guess; the Imp had to watch for 90 days until he could return…Lanie was already dead and so was the Justice League…so he came back to do what he could? Tried to reclaim the probability device?”
“Jax-Ur caught him and fired the device,” Alexis explained. “What had been one world, now became three completely separate worlds with, as we can see from the varying views of history,” here she nodded to Kara, acknowledging her version of events, “with some minor and some major differences!. At that moment, almost all of the imp’s power was transferred into what became the yellow Starheart. Myxy was able to take the device at that point, but the consequences could not be undone, nor could he teleport back to his home dimension. He’s tried to undo the effects the device more than a handful of times; each time he fired the device again, reality changed once more, usually for the worse. Oddly, though, there were no more duplicate probabilities.”
“I think I can give you a clue as to why Probability Three varies so much from Probabilities One and Two.” Tony spoke up, drawing attention to him. He shrugged and held up the tricorder. “Magic. I don’t know if any of you have noticed it, but magic is an extremely rare commodity in the Multiverse, especially compared to the levels recorded in other Continuverses, such as Alterverse. Probability Three, however, is the exception! Mystic energies are as abundant here as Cosmic energies!”
“This Probability seems to have no memory of a Green Lantern Corps,” Hal surmised, “with a Parallax-style Starheart, this universe’s Sentinels would be primarily evil and the Guardians sponsored by the Starheart likely had no reason to end the Manhunter Corps. So my counterpart here was never a Green Lantern. Any idea what happened to him?”
“Sorry, no,” Alexis shook her head.
“Could that lack of mystic energy be the reason the Imp didn’t try to reboot events in Probabilities One and Two?” Rogue asked.
“Could be.” Tony nodded. “Yet I think he had a more…personal…reason for not touching Probability Two: Lanie Kent. He wouldn’t reboot Probability Two as long as Kal-El’s daughter lived.” “Yes,” Alexis confirmed.
“And, likely he won’t fire it again during your lifetime,” he added with certainty. “Not with your genetics, Ms. El.”
Alexis raised an eyebrow, smiling at his words as his three companions stared at each other in bewilderment.
“I can be recreated in another probability,” Alexis explained. “I’m not the first Kayla Jor-El. And given that Brainiac had his hooks in my sister’s conception, the imp has even less reason to salvage this timeline…if he can find the gun before Brainiac does. It vanished the last time the imp fired it. And he only fired it the last time because Brainiac had caught up to him.”
Tony nodded.
“And now Brainiac thinks someone on Earth has it,” he surmised.
“Yes,” Alexis agreed. “Of course, we don’t, but Brainiac doesn’t believe us.” She shook her head, scowling, “the imp thought that rebooting our timeline would erase Brainiac’s memory of the device, but the three probabilities share one Brainiac. So as soon as he realizes that he can access his memories in other probabilities, he regains them. And we believe his memory stores elsewhere broadcast back here to regain his attention as soon as he is able to communicate.”
“That explains a lot,” Rogue sighed as she gazed at Tony Stark. “If he’s in this probability when it gets rebooted, there is probably downtime before he re-accesses those memories. So, his disappearing acts are probably due to the reboots.” She stopped and shook her head as a thought occurred to her. “I have a sneaky suspicion that the effects of the constant triggering of the Device here, in Probability Three, have not been as confined to Probability Three as we think.”
“The time anomalies?” Kara looked at her, thinking of the multitude of time anomalies the Guardians of Probability One and Jenny and Arisia, their Arisia, had been investigating. Rogue nodded.
“Does Brainiac control the Guardians?” Hal asked.
“Control? We don’t that with absolute certainty. They are allies, at the least.” Arisia responded. “But Brainiac clearly has the upper hand in that alliance. While he may not control the Guardians, we believe he has taken control of the Manhunters. Understandable, of course, since they are basically advanced robots.”
“I’ve got another problem,” Alexis’ features displayed worry, “I’ve been told my sister is under his control as well,” she admitted. “I don’t have her current status; I’d like to get back to Earth, but I’ve been ordered to work with the Darkstars until further notice.”
RISING STARR
“I’ll ask the obvious question,” Kara injected, “but just exactly who freed your world from the Phantom Zone criminals? You seem a bit young to have pulled that off.”
“That happened before I returned to Man’s world from Paradise Island,” Alexis admitted. “Jimmy Olsen and Barbara Gordon are due in shortly; they lived through it and can explain it better than I can. Once they arrive, I’ll go out to do some more scouting.”
“If you don’t mind,” Hal offered, “I’d like to join you. I’d like to see how this universe works and I need to see it first-hand.”
“Sure,” Alexis agreed. “Arisia, do you think the Darkstars will grant clearance?”
“As long as he stays with you,” Arisia agreed.
“Careful Hal,” Rogue teased, “she’s a bit young for you.”
“No wonder I feel cooped up,” Hal growled as Alexis’s cheeks reddened.
RISING STARR
Rogue watched the approaching Jimmy Olsen and Barbara Gordon with interest. The two of them appeared to be in their early forties: fit for their respective ages but no longer qualified as members of the Spandex set.
She had overheard Alexis’s back brief to the two of them. She knew that Alexis understood that every word she spoke would be overheard…new or not to the game, the young woman was nobody’s fool. If Lexie was in her league, she would be a real problem.
She wondered why Alexis did not discuss more about her world. Rogue suspected that the young woman had strict guidance about what she could reveal. Rogue wondered how much Alexis really knew…as a fully powered Kryptonian, Alexis took in more information than she would ever admit.
Midnight Angel? Or Dark Knight? Why such an odd name? And who was the original Kayla Jor-El she had been based on? Had she been hero or villain?
“Rogue Zorel and Kara El,” Tony interrupted her musings.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Rogue responded pleasantly as she gazed through the side of the ship. Hal had taken off with Alexis; they were working out communications protocols before jumping into Hyperspace, methodically and professionally.
Without a conscious effort, Rogue slipped on the ring that Jenny had provided so that she could breathe in space, using her X-Ray vision to watch Hal and Alexis. Then she watched Alexis shrug with a smile, beckoning to her to join them, signing the Kryptonian word for chaperone as Hal shook his head.
“Ah have to protect Ms. Graves’s virtue,” Rogue excused herself, “a young woman like that should not be left to her own devices around Mr. Jordan,” she advised as she departed from the conference room. At that moment, Rogue realized Alexis could read lips; she could tell by Alexis’s laughter. “Sugah, I owe you one,” Rogue mouthed as she entered the airlock.
RISING STARR
“Not that I’m ungrateful,” Rogue admitted as she joined Hal and Alexis in outer space, “but what’s the plan?”
“The Darkstars can contact me if they need me,” Alexis related. “In the meantime, Hal says his ring can record everything we point him towards,” she related, “and the first question we as a team have to answer is ‘how bad is this universe, really?’”
“Scouting mission,” Hal agreed, “starting with Oa. Not really looking forward to it, but it’s got to be done.”
“Any ideas on the probability device?” Rogue asked.
“My guess is it’s floating around the Starheart,” Alexis ventured. “That’s the one place none of us can observe. It’s just a guess, but since the Starheart holds most of the imp’s power, it makes a weird kind of sense.”
“I doubt it’s on Oa,” Hal concluded, “if the Guardians knew about it, Brainiac wouldn’t be looking for it on Earth.”
“If the Starheart had it,” Rogue prodded, “why wouldn’t it tell Brainiac?”
“Why should it?” Hal shrugged his shoulders. “It has no reason to love Brainiac.”
RISING STARR
“Only four years ago,” Jimmy Olsen explained to Tony and Kara, “my world was under the domination of the Phantom Zone criminals. I was approached by a young woman who claimed that with my help, the Phantom Zone criminals could be defeated. I didn’t realize she was serious until she lifted me into the air and flew me to the Fortress of Solitude. She claimed that she had been sent to clean up this mess…she had one ace in the hole; she would not be depowered for more than a few seconds by Gold K.”
“There’s a lot you aren’t telling, Jimmy,” Kara accused while Barbara Gordon squirmed and Tony Stark nodded in agreement, trying to hide the distraction Barbara Gordon caused him.
Tony had removed his Ironman helmet when Barbara Gordon arrived. He was doing his best not to make it obvious that he was studying this other version of the woman that, in his own Probability, was his wife…his very pregnant wife…
“Maybe,” Jimmy replied, “but Brandy has always been secretive about her origin and I respect that.”
“Yet both of you know it, as does Alexis Graves,” Kara pressed hard for an answer.
“In due time, Kara” Tony counseled, “let’s hear what they are willing to tell us.”
“For now, but I’ll have my answers,” Kara nodded grudging assent. Yet she added one more tidbit with a stern look directed at Jimmy and Barbara. “I have to admit that, at this point, I am beginning to become more inclined to go back and tell Jenny to call the whole thing off! Right now, only the fact that Buddy Raines and his people are here are keeping me from ending this scouting mission here and now! I don’t like secrets that may affect my people!”
“You will get your answer, Ms. El,” Jimmy promised, seeing Kara’s expression of increasing suspicion. “Ellen wants to explain who she is to you in person…she feels she owes you that. We would just muck up the explanation.”
Kara did not reply, but allowed Jimmy to continue.
“With the assistance of Buddy Raines and his Rebels,” Jimmy continued, still squirming under Kara’s hard glare, “we dispatched the criminals in less than a day. Brandy took out General Zod and worked with us to lay traps for the rest of the criminals. Buddy Raines and I had the privilege of depowering the Zoners with Gold K and sending them away once and for all. After that, Brandy and I dropped out of sight for two years, learning about our world…great times. I didn’t miss my wife Lucy any less, but I didn’t feel as much pain. And we made a difference in our travels.” He smiled with contentment.
“With the Zoners obviously gone,” Barbara added, “our world began to rebuild. National lines were redrawn…the US and Canada became the United States of North America…the border seemed silly at that point. Both LexCorp and Wayne Industries emerged from the ashes. Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne focused on rebuilding our world…losing their families had humbled both of them. They still compete, but differently.”
“Bruce Wayne’s wife and children had been killed,” Jimmy added, “and he had been forced underground.”
“Selina and Helena?” Kara prodded.
“Selina and Damien,” Barbara reacted automatically, “and Dick Grayson, whose child I carried. Bruce sent me off to safety with Alfred, but he thought we were dead, too.”
“Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves raised three clone children they had created together,” Jimmy explained. “Lex had to watch as the Zoners killed Lex Junior, then he watched a concrete ceiling fall on Mercy and the girls. He wouldn’t find out until much later that Mercy had an emergency exit and took the girls with her…Brandy uncovered the fact that Mercy was an Amazon and had used their magic to escape only a couple of months ago.”
“Two years ago,” Barbara pressed forward, “a new generation of heroes began to rise up, Captain Marvel the most powerful. He was asked to speak at the reopening of the Superman family museum, which would also feature Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor.”
“But Captain Marvel’s power was intercepted,” Jimmy recalled, “and we gazed up at the stage, horrified as Commander Marvel made his debut. He tried to attack Bruce Wayne, which flushed Brandy out of hiding. He used his lightning to attack her, which only increased her power as it killed him.”
“Her anonymity had been blown,” Barbara explained. “Brandy retained her secret identity, but she had become a known quantity instead of a story or a rumor. She immediately turned to Bruce Wayne to be her partner in a brave new world. As proof of her intentions, she reunited Bruce with Alfred, my son Ricky, and me.”
“Hell of a bribe,” Kara suggested, “and someone who knows well the House of the Bat.”
“We began Project Infinity,” Jimmy continued, “we train the metahumans, so they see themselves as part of something, instead of feeling isolated. We still have our share of supervillains, but not so many. Brandy made contact with the Darkstars, learning that they were sponsored by the Controllers, a breakaway group of Guardians. That was when we learned about the Manhunters and traded ambassadors with the Darkstars.”
“Brandy found the Luthor girls just before she met Mxyzptlk,” Barbara added. “She spent a lot more time with Alexis who needed extra help because of her power levels. We didn’t realize until too late that Lexie had been manufactured as Brainiac’s pawn. Lexie’s most recent action was to bring the deceased Lex Jr. back to a semblance of life as a cyborg. Brandy has them both on ice, but Brainiac’s fleet is currently converging on Earth.”
“One complicating factor,” Jimmy explained, frowning, “is that our Jax-Ur did have a lab on the moon. He’s never been willing to tell us what he did up there. Brainiac may think the probability device is there. We honestly don’t know…he closed it up a decade ago, leaving it all suspended in huge ball of melted lead. He could still have something operating in the middle of it. We just can’t read anything inside it.”
“Lovely…” Tony grunted.
Deep Space, not far from Oa
“Hunter Killers,” Rogue cursed as she spotted Brainiac’s ships heading towards them. She and her teammates dropped out of Hyperspace, hiding in an asteroid belt.
“They seemed to be coming from Oa,” Hal offered, “but why? Brainiac wouldn’t need more than one ship near Oa.”
“He’s concentrating his forces,” Alexis concluded as she gazed into Hyperspace. “Those ships aren’t like the ones we’ve seen before.”
“They didn’t look unusual to me,” Rogue shrugged.
“They could be from your probability,” Alexis surmised, “they aren’t like the ones native to MVP-3.
“You’re sayin he’s bringin ships in from the other probabilities?” Rogue realized the expanding scope of the war to her horror. “Then we’re not the only ones trying to beef up the home team.”
“I need to see Oa,” Hal spoke with renewed determination.
“Not a bad idea,” Rogue agreed.
RISING STARR
The small team dropped out of Hyperspace behind Oa’s moon. Rogue and Alexis started visual scans immediately while Hal tried to use his ring to scan the Oan surface. As Hal began to focus the ring’s energies, Rogue reacted violently.
“We need to leave,” Rogue warned, “now.”
“Why?” Hal intensified his ring scan, “I’m not seeing anything.”
“Yellow band energy,” Rogue replied. “You’re just a standard GL now, Sugah, and this place runs on yellow energy.”
“I see them coming,” Alexis confirmed. “Should we leave?”
“Can you turn off your comms?” Rogue inquired, “completely depower them?”
“Sure,” Alexis agreed. “No problem. I can disconnect the battery.” She reached towards her Project Infinity comms, using heat vision to sever the battery circuit. “I can reverse it easily enough.”
“Good,” Rogue suggested. “Since you don’t need the Lantern energy to breathe, you won’t be tracked by it. I need you to run a little scouting mission for us, then join us at the last star system we passed on the way here, say the largest moon of the fourth planet.”
“We’ll make a lot of noise on our way out,” Hal grinned. “We’ll give you a minute head start. We’ll exit that way,” he indicated a route that would draw attention away from the Guardians’ complex.
“Just tell me what I’m looking for…” Alexis agreed.
“Here’s our shopping list…”
RISING STARR
“So what do you suggest?” Rogue asked Hal as Alexis sped away, appearing to the Manhunters to be departing Oa.
“Did I ever tell you that Manhunters framed me for blowing up their planet?” Hal offered. “We almost fell for it…I owe the Batman for figuring out that we’d all been had. And I have just as much love for these Manhunters!” His expression took on a predatory grin as he targeted a slab of rock with his ring. “Manhunters, I am going to rock your world!”
RISING STARR
Diversion…that’s all they were supposed to be. Rogue swore as she blasted a Manhunter vessel to bits. Despite the fact that these Manhunters used yellow energy, their ships were all other colors…and Hal Jordan was having a field day.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rogue spotted an odd reflection of light entering the Oan atmosphere at the polar region…Alexis had made her way to the surface. Then Rogue felt an energy blast bouncing off of her costume.
“You know,” Rogue commented to the offending Manhunter vessel, “you boys do remind me of Sentinel Robots…and I’m not fond of them, either!” She fired heat vision into the offending vessel.
Twenty minutes later and a star system away
“That was fun!” Rogue admitted as she and Hal stood on the surface of the moon of the fourth planet, waiting for Alexis’s comms signal to appear. Hal offered a confirming grin.
“I’m a doer,” Hal explained. “This is the first time I’ve been able to do my thing in quite a while. I enjoyed every minute.”
“I have a feelin’ this won’t be the last time you get to exercise here,” Rogue offered.
“I hope so,” Hal agreed, “this is the first time I haven’t felt useless in a very long time.”
“Ah think this universe needs a lot of help,” Rogue considered.
“It certainly has its challenges,” Hal nodded thoughtfully as Alexis’s comms signal activated.
RISING STARR
“I didn’t get much,” Alexis explained as she unwrapped the results of her scavenger hunt from her cape. “Battery and Manhunter weapon, of course, and some of the other goodies you told me to look for.”
“We’ve got folks who can do something with this,” Rogue agreed. “We’re going to have to bust up their little party here…that’s going to take an extreme amount of firepower focused in the right places, while we keep them from firing back.”
“We are going to have firepower in abundance,” Hal chuckled. “I’m going to enjoy this!”
“I’m glad somebody will,” Alexis emphasized, “I hate to make judgments, but I got a good look at those Guardians. They seem hard-wired into their little hutches…I wonder if they’re really even alive any more. I’ve never seen a more unattractive bunch. I think we just answered the question of whether or not Brainiac is controlling them!”
“If they’re hardwired into their computer systems, then you can bet Brainiac controls them!” Rogue confirmed. “You kiddos do realize that before we take these toys back to the fleet, we’re going to have to disable the locator circuits?”
“I think I know how to do that,” Hal explained. “I can show you what kind of a circuit needs to be burned out. It will probably look something like this.” He generated a diagram that Rogue quickly understood and used to disable the offending circuit.
RISING STARR
Two Hours later; the Darkstar ship Vengeance
Hal, Rogue, and Alexis had returned to the Darkstar ship with their trophies and scouting reports. Tony Stark’s eyes lit up as he gazed at the artifacts.
“Very good,” Tony complimented as he gazed at the Manhunter tools, his scientific mind evaluating each of them. “I need to get these back to Probability One. One of the ships in the fleet is my mobile workshop!” “How are we on time?” Barbara Gordon asked.
“Our slight diversion,” Hal grinned, “probably slowed Brainiac down quite a bit.” He added, “Brainiac knows that something is screwing with the Guardians and hunting Manhunters; he’ll have to add that into his equations.”
“We confirm that his fleet has slowed its approach to Earth,” Arisia confirmed, “that buys us all a little more time.”
“And we’re going to need every second of it,” Rogue warned.
End— Vanishing Probability
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2014 by Eldric
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.
-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of
-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric.
-- Otherverse, Multiverse, Primalverse. and Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes,
-- as depicted in the Continuum Worlds, are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.
-- Alterverse, The Inheritors and Rising Starr, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of Eldric.
-- Wasteland, The Sorority, and Otherverse 2.0, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds
-- are original creations of Nomad (Jake H.).
-- The Realm and The Web of Shadows, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G./ Andrew Shields respectively.
-- DCM: The Merging, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,
-- is an original creation of Chip Caroon and the stories therein remain
-- the property of the respective writers.
-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations
-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, Michael Liebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,
-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, John P., DTO, or Jason Froikin and may not
-- be used without express permission of the respective author.
-- All DC characters are property of D.C. Comics.
-- All Marvel characters are property of Marvel Comics.